1. Presenters: Yumi Takahashi-Ede Academic Advisor in the College of Arts & Sciences Halbert Bates Director of Recruitment & Retention in the Haworth College of Business Western Michigan University 2011 NACADA Annual Conference CODE 435

2. Attendance Initiative & Retention Efforts at Western Michigan University

3. 1. Descriptions of Attendance Initiative and Early Alert System 2. Reaching out to our students 3. Retention rates at Western Michigan University (WMU) 4. Findings for the past two academic years (2009-2010 and 2010-2011) 5. Future plans

4. Purpose  Increased effort to contact students who are not attending a class regularly  To track the effort made to contact and the success of contact with students reported

5. Goals  To make our students feel that we care about them as an individual and about their academic success at WMU  To promote more personal and closer relationships between students and the university community  To improve our retention rates  To improve academic outcomes

6. Purpose  To reach out to all new degree-seeking students (new beginners and transfers) with at least one midterm grade below a 'C' or who have been reported as not attending at least one course Goal  To assist students reported at the early stage of the semester

7. Attendance Initiative  Review their current schedules  Contact reported students by email or phone  Check their files in the office to see if they have come in  Contact them multiple times if necessary Early Alert Report & Midterm Grade Report  Contact reported students by email or phone  Strongly encourage them to come in to meet with an advisor  Offer resources and support available on campus

8. Probationary Email (Four Phases) 1) Beginning of the semester Initial email contact to students who are on academic probation 2) Middle of the semester Reminder email contact to those who have not come in to see an advisor 3) Before the last day to withdraw from courses Another reminder email to those who have not come in to see an advisor 4) End of the semester Final reminder email to those who have not yet to come in

9. Haworth College of Business

10.  Sending out letters to students who are reported as not attending class

11. University wide retention rate First to second year retention rates for first-time, full- time, degree seeking freshmen (FTIAC) Head CountUniv. Wide Head Count Univ. Wide Percent Fall 20103,163 (Fall 2009 Head Count) 2,40476.0% Fall 20093,806 (Fall 2008 Head Count) 2,75672.4%

12. College of Arts & Sciences First to second year retention rates for first-time, full-time, degree seeking freshmen (FTIAC) Head Count Univ. Wide Count Univ. Wide Percent College Specific Head Count College Specific Percent Transfer in from Other College Original and Transfer- in Subtotal Net Change Fall 2010 698 (Fall 2009 Head Count) 51573.8%45364.9%135588-110 Fall 2009 705 (Fall 2008 Head Count) 49870.5%42460.1%232656-49

13. Haworth College of Business First to second year retention rates for first-time, full-time, degree seeking freshmen (FTIAC) Head Count Univ. Wide Count Univ. Wide Percent College Specific Head Count College Specific Percent Transfer in from Other College Original and Transfer- in Subtotal Net Change Fall 2010 466 (Fall 2009 Head Count) 34173.2%29763.7%88385-81 Fall 2009 593 (Fall 2008 Head Count) 44174.4%37763.6%145522-71

14. Fall 2009 through Summer II 2010 Students in CAS Total Number of Students Reported 453FR105 (23%) SO102 (23%) JR140 (31%) SR106 (23%) Students eligible to return to Fall 2010 373 (82%)FR64 (61%) SO84 (82%) JR123 (88%) SO102 (96%) Students retained to Fall 2010 243 (65%)FR34 (53%) SO62 (73%) JR88 (72%) SO60 (59%)

15. Fall 2010 through Summer II 2011 Students in CAS Total Number of Students Reported 427FR78 (18%) SO99 (23%) JR100 (23%) SR150 (35%) Students eligible to return to Fall 2011 362 (85%)FR56 (72%) SO75 (76%) JR88 (88%) SO143 (95%) Students retained to Fall 2011 247 (68%)FR24 (43%) SO62 (83%) JR65 (74%) SO96 (67%)

16. Positive Findings:  Compared to the academic year of 2009-2010,  Total number of students reported as not- attending class decreased in the academic year of 2010-2011 (453  427)  Freshmen reported as not-attending class also decreased in 2010-2011 (23%  18%)  Percentage of students eligible to return to WMU in the following academic year was improved (82%  85%)  Percentage of Freshmen eligible to return to WMU in their Sophomore year was also improved (61%  72%)

17. Positive Findings:  Compared to the academic year of 2009-2010,  Overall retention rates to the following academic year went up in 2010-2011 (65%  68%)  Retention rates of all class standing except Freshmen also went up in 2010-2011.  Sophomore: 73%  83%  Juniors: 72%  74%  Seniors: 59%  67% (Number includes students who graduated during these academic years)

18. Areas need to be improved:  Number of Juniors reported in 2009-2010 and number of Seniors reported in 2010-2011 are higher compared to other classes.  Juniors in 2009-2010: 31%  Seniors in 2010-2011: 35%  Percentage of Freshmen eligible to return to WMU in the following academic year is still low compared to other classes.  Academic year of 2009-2010: 61% (out of those FRs reported as not-attending)  Academic year of 2010-2011: 72%

19. Areas need to be improved:  Retention rates of Freshmen decreased significantly from 2009-2010 to 2010-2011. (53%  43%)  Both retention rates of Freshmen rates are very low.  Academic year of 2009-2010: 53% (out of those FRs eligible to return to WMU)  Academic year of 2010-2011: 43%

20. Fall 2010 through Summer II 2011 3802 students started in Fall 2010 in HCOB Number of students reported as not- attending 343 Students eligible to return to Fall 2011 89% Students enrolled in Fall 2011 65%

21.  Improve retention rates by continuing Attendance Initiative and Early Alert Reports  Increase touch points by advisors and faculty with students  Reach out to Sophomores and Juniors  Collect more data  Work on the Retention Initiative assessment